Dangerous Covenants states for Adrenaline Rush , "The character is addicted to the rush of adrenaline he gets from battle... Now he must feed the addiction or the results turn ugly indeed. The character cannot back down from a fight of any kind, and often goes in search of conflict when things get too tame for his tastes. Should the character go an entire session without combat of some kind, the GM may add a penalty of (1 setback die) to any skill checks in the next session (or until the character gets a chance to fight)."

I have a Marauder PC who picked this for his obligation. Any thoughts on how I should handle it when it comes up? I mean, does the setback die thing always apply, or just when his obligation come up?

I have seen it played out only once, thus far. The GM handled it in a way that initially had doubts about but it worked out enjoyably:

The GM stated that the session started with us dealing with the aftermath of a bar fight that occurred "off screen" (specifically running from some local beat cops). The PC with this Obligation saw the "roughhousing" as a way to blow off steam but it turned out that one of the combatants was the coddled son of a local port official out slumming it. The young man suffered only a broken nose but the embarrassment set off a chain reaction of petty bureaucratic harassment against our heroes.

I'd say it's your call.

I like falcon. When between sessions and it pops, take the normal penalties and start the session with the players walking out of a police station having just bailed out the fighter.

For midadventure activation, the character is either getting antsy because he hasn't gotten a rush. "This is sooo boring" or he's still pumped from the last fight he was in "yeah! Let's do this! Leeeeeeeeroooooooy Jeeeeeeenkinns!"

I like falcon. When between sessions and it pops, take the normal penalties and start the session with the players walking out of a police station having just bailed out the fighter.

For midadventure activation, the character is either getting antsy because he hasn't gotten a rush. "This is sooo boring" or he's still pumped from the last fight he was in "yeah! Let's do this! Leeeeeeeeroooooooy Jeeeeeeenkinns!"

For the Firefly fans out there, a much less frequent version could by Mal Reynolds always finding himself in an Alliance-friendly bar on U-Day.

I have the same situation. The player took Adrenaline Rush pretty much to justify killing stuff whenever they want. So far I've kept a handle on it (knocks on the nearest wooden object). I'm worried about one thing, concerned about another.

The worry is: if I say the Obligation comes up, how do I make sure that's not just a free pass for senseless mayhem?

The concern is: how do I reduce this Obligation, and should it ever go entirely away? Debt obligations are easy to "pay off" but these mental ones... It's not like the guy is in therapy during hyperspace travel or anything. This Marauder is a shock boxer and I've considered reducing the Obligation by 1 for every match or tourney where he participates. On the other hand, addictions like this don't generally go away like that, in fact, that would feed the addiction and make it worse.

Given that the entire party has an Obligation total of 120 right now (yes, I know ) it's not likely to come up all that often.

You reduce the Obligation by feeding it and it increases when you fight it. If the character gives in to his need then the Obligation goes down because he's less driven to find an outlet for his aggression and the hit on the Strain Threshold is less likely to come up. That's not to say that giving in to Adrenaline Rush is all roses--it's really easy for this Obligation to lead to picking up other types of Obligation (Criminal, Collateral Accountability, etc.) even as the Adrenaline Rush itself gets sated.

Addiction works much the same way. Reduce the Obligation by feeding it, not by abstaining from your high, and be ready for consequences that you pick up even as you're lowering Addiction. What, don't like those consequences? Then by all means fight the urge, but know it's going to get harder as the Addiction Obligation keeps on rising.

Remember, Obligation is a transitory thing - it comes, it goes. If a character mines out that storyline (be it addiction, be it debt, whatever), drop it. It sounds like they're not hurting for obligation - so yeah, reduce it, work on it in the game guiding the player to epiphany, and phase it out,

No Obligation is a "free pass" for anything. Rather the opposite, in a way.

It's a ticking time-bomb of consequences that players choose to strap on to themselves.

It could be said the the GM of my previous example "edited out" the "fun" part (from the POV of a charter that enjoys mayhem) and just jumped right to the consequences.